According to our latest research, career progression is of more value than salary when it comes to searching for an IT vacancy. The survey of over 500 job seekers who applied for IT roles in March 2012, found that over half (57%) would find career progression more attractive than salary in an IT vacancy.
Salary came in second place (18%) in the survey, with training coming next (10%), benefits package rated fourth (3%) and working hours being listed last (2%).
This focus on developing a career over the salary level is interesting and I think it’s important for organisations filling an IT role to bear this in mind. If your job advert doesn’t allude to the career opportunities available but has a high pay bracket, you might actually be putting off potential talent.
The report also found that job title (86%), location (60%) and skill set (53%) were the most commonly used searches for vacancies on job boards, further enforcing the decreasing value of salary in the job hunt. It’s encouraging that even in a tough economic climate candidates are looking at which roles fit their skills set rather than simply going for any and every job available. I think it’s important that businesses and recruiters take this into consideration when advertising roles and ensure the right opportunities are being offered to attract the right talent.
According to the results, despite the increasing use of social media channels by businesses and recruiters in advertising vacancies, job hunters were not using these channels to their advantage. Whilst LinkedIn was a popular resource with 77% of respondents using it for their job hunt, more than half (64%) do not use any other social media channels.
And job hunters could be losing out on opportunities as a result. Vacancies are now being advertised across a huge number of on and offline outlets, but as businesses look to cut costs, the free social media channels will be appealing. As recruiters and employers look to other social networking sites such as Twitter and Google+ to source new recruits, job hunters could really be missing a trick here.
